Cobb, remember at the last meeting the young man who has a similar set up, 
told how he went down to untie after his first dive and the switch was 
still on the deco gas 50% and breath it at 110ft and started shaking and 
nearly didn't make it up. I think we worked on him for a while and he is 
going to give up that rig.


  At 01:02 PM 8/2/00 -0400, Jim Cobb wrote:
>I don't see anything wrong with this setup, Billy. Obviously this death was
>due to diver error. I guess he forgot whether the yellow tape was air or
>nitrox. An innocent mistake anybody could have made. He should have had a
>hose wrap around the nitrox, um, or the air, that would have made everything
>better.
>
>Billy, I truly hope you are not implying with this post that weird, bizarre,
>non-standard equipment and configurations could possibly have been at fault.
>I mean the mere suggestion of this makes you a DIR goose-stepping nazi
>fanatic.
>
>It's a much better for divers to follow their own path, do their own thing.
>How could you possibly suggest that following a standard, proven gear
>configuration could do anything but stifle the creative urges of the
>aspiring techdiver.
>
>Take a look at this fellow, independent doubles with different mixes going
>to an unlabeled gas block equipped with a great big easily-moved lever. This
>fellow is, er, was obviously an genius of the highest order.
>
>I see that his wonderful, inspiring rig is now available for purchase.
>Perhaps we can all pitch in and purchase it for Black, the only person *I*
>know of smart enough to appreciate it's beauty of design and construction.
>
>    Jim
>
>
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/
>
> > From: <billy@bd*.co*.au*>
> > Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 20:37:41 +1000
> > To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
> > Subject: Re: ABC on Diving the San Diego - STROKE ALERT
> >
> >
> >> on 7/31/00 2:24 AM, speez3 (Techdiver) at speez3@ea*.ne* wrote:
> >>
> >>> As for Tony Maffatone, he takes his
> >>> ideas, puts them on paper and makes them work. Everything he builds 
> is from
> >>> his own design. This whole thread really shows ZERO intelligence from 
> this
> >>> list. A proper apology is definitely in order.
> >
> >
> > Seems Maffatone is determined to take an outdated
> > and terminally stupid idea and grind it around and
> > around some-more.
> >
> > The old Kevorkian rig rears its ugly head again.
> >
> > rgds billyw
> >
> >
> > ------5. New South Wales State Coroner. Coroner's Court, 1995. File number
> > 94/574. -------
> >
> > Clinical record
> >
> > A 47-year-old experienced underwater cave diver, with no significant 
> medical
> > history, was diving with two tanks -- one containing compressed air, 
> the other
> > a 50% mixture of oxygen and nitrogen (nitrox). Towards the end of the 47-m,
> > 19-min dive, he was seen floating head down, unresponsive, with his 
> mouthpiece
> > out of his mouth and "his fins [flippers] moving as if he was 
> shivering" (as
> > reported by another diver to the Coroner). The body was carried up to 15 m
> > depth and then allowed to ascend freely as the other divers decompressed.
> >
> > Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was attempted, but abandoned after 43 
> minutes as
> > there was no response.
> >
> > Autopsy findings
> >
> > Erect postmortem x-rays and autopsy of the body performed 24 hours 
> after death
> > revealed large amounts of gas in the venous system of the trunk and 
> limbs and
> > in both sides of the heart (Figure 1). The heart weighed 380 g and was 
> normal,
> > apart from foamy blood and gas in all chambers. Analysis of gas from 
> the right
> > ventricle showed O2 (20.6% by volume), and N2 (75.9%). There was 
> bruising of
> > the tongue and petechiae on the lungs and heart. The brain (1740 g) showed
> > mild cerebral oedema and a microscopic perivascular haemorrhage in the 
> floor
> > of the fourth ventricle.
> >
> > Figure 1: Postmortem erect chest x-ray, showing gas in both sides of 
> the chest
> > and in the neck veins (a combination of postmortem decompression, 
> perimortem
> > barotrauma and, possibly, decomposition).
> >
> > Examination of diving equipment
> >
> > Examination of the subject's diving equipment (Figure 2) revealed that 
> he had
> > been breathing the 50% oxygen/nitrogen mixture for most of the dive. 
> Each tank
> > had a separate first stage connected in an unusual fashion by a two-way
> > switch, which the diver had had made by a local engineering shop. This 
> allowed
> > the diver to switch from one tank to another rapidly. This switch 
> supplied a
> > single second-stage mouthpiece. The two tanks were different colours; the
> > circuit from the black (compressed-air) tank was marked with yellow tape,
> > while the circuit from the yellow (nitrox) tank was unmarked.
> >
> > Figure 2: Equipment used by the diver, showing the 50% oxygen/nitrogen gas
> > tank (yellow, right), compressed-air tank (black, left), yellow tape 
> marking
> > the compressed-air circuit, and two-way valve which controlled the 
> source of
> > the air supply (inset shows close-up of valve).
> >
> > The regulator had a small tear and a bite mark in the mouthpiece. The diver
> > wore a facemask and separate mouthpiece rather than a full facemask, which
> > covers eyes, nose and mouth.
> >
> > Discussion
> >
> > The cause of death, as determined by the Coroner, was drowning after oxygen
> > toxicity.(5) The "shivering" movements and the biting of the tongue and
> > mouthpiece suggested fitting. Using a 50% oxygen/nitrogen mixture at 47 m
> > depth, the diver had been exposed to a partial pressure of oxygen of 
> 291 kPa
> > (2.9 atm), possibly for as long as 19 min. During diving, this gas mixture
> > should be used only at depths less than 14-18 m (depending on the 
> duration of
> > exposure).
> >
> > Cerebral gas embolism and decompression illness were unlikely causes of 
> death,
> > as the subject was unresponsive before ascent. The gas observed at autopsy
> > probably resulted from a combination of postmortem decompression 
> (release of
> > tissue nitrogen), perimortem barotrauma and, possibly, a degree of
> > decomposition.(6)
> >
> > This death resulted from several compounding problems:
> >
> > 1.The diver may have turned the switch to the unmarked nitrox circuit,
> > thinking he was using the circuit to the compressed air in the black 
> tank (the
> > yellow label marked the circuit from the black [compressed-air] tank, 
> not the
> > circuit from the yellow [nitrox] tank). Alternatively, as the two-way valve
> > needed very little pressure to turn, it could have been accidentally 
> switched
> > from a safe to an unsafe gas mix.
> >
> > 2.The diver was using a separate facemask and mouthpiece. During the 
> seizure,
> > the mouthpiece fell out. A full facemask, covering both the mouth and nose,
> > should be worn by divers using oxygen-rich mixtures or carrying out deep
> > diving on compressed air, to reduce the chance of drowning should an oxygen
> > convulsion occur.
> >
> > This technical diving fatality and those reported in the United States in
> > 1992(4) were in experienced divers, who should have understood the dangers.
> >
> > source: "an article published on the Internet by The Medical Journal of
> > Australia <http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/MJA/>"
> >
> >
>
>
>--
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"You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get in the 
water"
Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East Coast & more
  Web Site  http://www.capt-jt.com/
Email     captjt@mi*.co*


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